"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!!" Dustin was yelling as he paced the floor near Steve's unconscious figure.
"Shut up!" Max yelled at him, "You're not helping!"
"What should we do?" Lucas asked. "We should get him to the hospital before he bleeds out," Max said.
"We can't take him to a hospital!" Lucas said.
"Lucas is right. If we take him to the hospital then we're gonna be asked all sorts of questions. Questions we can't answer," Mike said in a calm but firm voice.
"Well, what then?" said Dustin, "We can't just leave him here!"
"I have an idea," Max said, kneeling down next to Steve. "One of you, get me a long piece of cloth."
"What are you gonna do?" Lucas asked. "My dad taught me how to tie a tourniquet," Max said simply.
Dustin went to the window and unceremoniously ripped one of the curtains off of it. He walked back over to Max, handing it to her.
She ripped part of the curtain into a thin, bandage-like cloth, and proceeded to to tie it just above the gash on Steve's leg.
After she'd finished, Max looked up at the boys who'd somehow become her closest, and only, friends, "That should keep him from bleeding out -- for a while at least -- but we should probably stitch him up if we can. Do any of you know if Mrs. Byers has a sewing kit?"
She spoke in a very matter-of-fact tone, her voice surprisingly even, and if the boys weren't in such a state of high anxiety, they would've been impressed.
"...Hello?" Max asked, waving a hand in front of her friends to get their attention, "Did you hear me? We gotta stitch him up!"
"Uh, yeah. Yeah... I think I know where Mrs. Byers keeps her sewing kit..." Mike said, startled out of his trance.
"...Can you go get it?" Max said, trying not to yell at him. Mike was freaked out... and tired... and in shock -- for other reasons besides Steve lying unconscious and bleeding. She knew this, and she tried to be patient with him... but god he was annoying sometimes.
Mike left the room to find the sewing kit, and Max looked down at Steve's face for the first time since the kids had found him.
He looked bad. She hadn't noticed how bad he'd looked earlier when they'd taken him with them to the tunnels. She'd been trying to focus on driving, and when they were in the tunnels they all had their faces covered.
But Billy really did a number on the teenager. ...And it was her fault. She should've stopped hanging out with these kids, then Billy would've left them alone and this wouldn't have happened.
"How do you know how to do all this?" Lucas asked, bringing Max out of her train of thought.
"My grandpa was in the military. He taught my dad how to do this stuff, and then my dad taught me," Max said absentmindedly, still looking down at Steve.
Mike returned with a sewing kit and the first aid kit they'd used to patch Steve up earlier.
He handed Max the two kits and then went and sat on the sofa while Max worked on fixing Steve's leg.
The children were silent for some time until Max finally stood up and addressed her friends, "Okay, we should get him off the floor. Let's move him to the couch -- same way we got him into the car."
The boys nodded, Mike standing up from the couch and joining the others.
They managed to get Steve to the couch and tried to make him as comfortable as they could.
...Then they saw headlights shining through the window and wondered how the hell they were going to explain this.